24th Jul 2018 09:27
LONDON (Alliance News) - GlaxoSmithKline PLC said Tuesday its joint venture ViiV Healthcare's two-drug regimen for the treatment of HIV met its primary endpoint in two studies.
The FTSE 100-listed pharmaceutical company said that ViiV Healtcare GEMINI 1 & 2 studies showed that the company's two-drug regimen has similar results to the standardised three-drug regimen used in the treatment of HIV.
ViiV is a joint venture between Glaxo, US drugs giant Pfizer Inc and Japan's Shionogi Ltd.
The GEMINI studies are part of ViiV Healthcare clinical trial for a two-drug regiment, involving the combination of dolutegravir and lamivudine medicines to treat HIV, as opposed to the standardised three-drug regimen.
The studies met their primary endpoint for non-inferiority based on plasma HIV-1 RNA <50c/mL, a standard measure of HIV control, at week 48.
The company said the two-drug regimen will increase tolerability and convenience for people suffering from HIV.
"These are important findings for people living with HIV who will spend their lifetime taking drugs to suppress their virus. The studies have the potential to expand the treatment paradigm for first-line therapy of people living with HIV," Pedro Cahn, investigator for the GEMINI studies said.
ViiV Healthcare intends to seek approval for the regimen later this year, the company said.
In a separate release, GlaxoSmithKline added that another of ViiV Healthcare's HIV two-drug regimen, Juluca, combining dolutegravir and rilpivirine maintained viral suppression through 100 weeks.
ViiV Chief Scientific and Medical Officer John Pottage said: "This 100-week data should provide physicians with further confidence that they may be able to reduce the number of antiretroviral drugs required to effectively maintain virologic suppression in their patient's HIV."
GlaxoSmithKline shares were trading down 1.0% at 1,549.00 pence each.
Related Shares:
Glaxosmithkline